Safe Now
by CitrusFruitsAppreciationClub
Summary: When Francis, Antonio and Gilbert see a small crowd of girls around a person with a strange hair curl, they go to investigate. And when they recognise the person as one Matthew Williams, curiosity takes over. Could it be that Matthew is taking after his older cousin with his romancing? Or is there something else going on? Rated T for language (Just to be safe). Bullied!CanadaxBTT
1. Chapter 1

**~Matthew's POV~**

"Hey, Mattie~" The annoyance that was his own personal bully, Sarah, sounded from behind him. Dear God, what did I do to deserve this?

"Are you ignoring me?" The singsongy tone had left her voice, replaced by an irritated one. I carried on walking in silence, hoping she would go away.

"It's rude to ignore a lady!" She grabbed my wrist and shoved me against a locker so I was facing her, revealing her gang of beauty queen bitches not two feet behind her. This is just the beginning of my normal day, Sarah and the rest of her clique corner me, call me names, pull my curl, etcetera, etcetera. Today wasn't a normal day though. Today was different. Sarah had hold of my wrist and was using it to pin me to the locker.

"What? You deaf as well as blind, Canadian?" And this is why she is on the list of people I want to be eaten by a polar bear. Her and her little group of populars. Did they think I was a girl or something? Or am I just that weak?

"Hey! I'm talking to you!" Is she still talking? Before I could say a thing, she snatched my glasses, holding them away from me. Everything was blurry now, I couldn't see a thing!

"You need to take better care of your things," she sneered. They were out of my reach due to the books I was holding.

_Crunch_

And there was the sound of his glasses breaking. Again. 'How am I going to explain this to my parents and Alfred? That was my last spare pair!'

* * *

**~BTT's POV~ **

"Hey, Francis, isn't that your _primo_ over there?" Antonio pointed to a small group of girls surrounding someone with a hair curl that just won't go down.

"It is, _mon ami_! Look's like 'e is popular with zhe ladies, just like _moi_!" The eccentric Frenchman patted his chest on the last word of this sentence.

"You sure about zhat, Francey? It look like zhey've cornered him," the self-proclaimed Awesome Prussian was slightly worried about his friend's cousin.

"Zhen we must 'elp 'im!"

"¡_Sí, vamanos_!"

"_Ja_!"

And with that, the three boys all knew what they had to do. They advanced towards the group of Barbies, the type of girls that always went for Antonio, meaning they had to be cautious. Snaking an arm around the ringleader's waist, Francis started doing what he does best, flirting.

"_Ma cherie_, 'ave you always looked this beautiful?" The girl moved her hand away from Matthew's wrist to slap away the French student, allowing Gilbert to quickly grab the Canadian and pull him away. Antonio served as the oblivious distraction, the rest of the bullies staring at his behind in awe, with a livid Southern Italian nearby, ready to pull him away at any moment

* * *

Matthew had lost possession of his glasses and so was heavily relying on the Prussian to guide him.

"You all right zhere, Birdie?"

"Y-Yeah… Um, Gilbert? Where are we going?" the confused Canadian asked.

"Just here, Birdie," came the reply, Matthew was able to make out a tree through his blurred vision.

"_Und_, in _drei_, _zwei_, _eins_…" Just as the German countdown finished, the panicked tone of a certain Frenchman sounded.

"Matthieu, _mon cher_, what 'appened?"

'I won't cry, I won't cry, I won't cry!' Matthew told himself.

It was a little too late to say that now. Tears streamed down Matthew's face as his cousin pulled him into a soothing hug. Soaking Francis' shirt in tears, Matthew began telling the trio all about the girls who would push him, take his things, pull his curl, smash his glasses, who both physically and verbally abused him, who made his life a living hell. Through his rant, Francis didn't once let go of the Canadian, opting to smooth his hair and remain silent, not caring at all that his shirt would likely be see-through at this point.

"_Amigo_, that's terrible!"

"Zhose bitches! I swear, if zhey ever do somezhing like zhis again, I'm going to lose it!" Now sniffling, Matthew lifted his head off of the Frenchman's shoulder and looked at his Prussian friend, wiping his eyes.

"G-Gil, you don't have to do that. I can take care of myself."

"If you're getting zhis kind of abuse, you obviously can't, Birdie."

At that, something caused the usually quiet Matthew Williams to have a mini outburst in anger.

"Yes, because that must be why they did that, right? Because I'm defenceless? Well, not anymore. I'm going to get stronger! I'm going to make them all see why I can't be stepped on!"The Canadian pushed away from his French cousin, a determined look on his tear-stained face.

"Mon cher, if you are suggesting zhat you will injured zhose girls, I cannot say zhat I approve. You should know better, Matthieu!"

"I guess I got a little carried away… I guess Alfie must be influencing me again."

"It doesn't matter now, anyway. All that matters is that you're safe~" the ditzy Spaniard attempted to comfort Matthew.

"Vill you be ok vithout your glasses?"

There was a fair point. The Canadian hadn't even considered how he was going to make it through the rest of the day with his impaired vision. Slightly flustered, he began stuttering out an answer. "I-I don't know… Francis, what should I do?"

"Well, you could 'ang around with us today. We can 'elp you through zhe day!"

Matthew had a choice. Walk around on his own, blind as a bat, ask his brother for help and get interrogated or, hang around with his cousin and his friends for the day… It's amazing how appealing the last option was.

"Th-Thank you so much, Francis! But what about Alfred? If he sees me without my glasses, he'll get worried…"

"Don't worry, _amigo_, we have that covered!" Suddenly, Antonio seemed a lot less innocent than before…

Before there was time to think about it, the school bell rang, signalling homeroom.

Good thing Matthew had his three guides to get him through the day!

And if the "Hero" found out about everything, he was so screwed.

* * *

**A/N: Hola, amigos, Lou here. How is everyone? This has been great fun to write. Tell me if we should write another chapter to this or not, there seems to be so much that can happen with this story! Anyway, thanks for reading and have a great day**

**A/N: PS, if you can see any way that this can be improved, please tell me! I'm always up for constructive criticism!**


	2. Chapter 2

**~Lunch Time~**

Matt had gotten more used to his three guides as the day went on. However, now was going to be a challenge. He hadn't seen his friend Carlos all day and knew the Cuban would be worried by now. As the four boys entered the cafeteria, the shy Canadian was clinging to Gilbert's arm, hoping he wouldn't fall over and make a fool of himself. On a table at the back of the room, three blonds sat talking. Well, a loud Danish boy and Matthew's American brother were talking loudly while Alfred's British boyfriend and Matthias' Norwegian boyfriend looked rather uncomfortable and grumpy. The "King" waved to the third member of the "Awesome Trio" as they called themselves. Waving back, Gilbert signalled that he would be there in a moment before turning to Matthew.

"Vhat vere you going to get for lunch, Birdie?"

Snapping out of his slight concentration trance of putting one foot in front of the other without tripping, Matt looked up at the tall Prussian, thinking carefully about what he answered, the quiet Canadian didn't even get a chance to reply before Francis interrupted him.

"_Mon cher_ will have a baguette, _oui_, Matthieu?"

"You sure you don't want to give him yours, _amigo_? Fusososososo~"

"_Non_, 'owever, I'm sure Gilbert wants to give him his!" At this, the albino went bright red. Well, as red as he could go.

"D-Do not!" He tried to argue. The self-proclaimed Prussian hoped to God that Matthew couldn't see how red he was. Good thing the semi-blinded Canadian was too lost in thought over what option he would choose for lunch to notice.

"How about some pizza? Lovi and I made some in Home Ec today!" The beaming, seemingly oblivious idiot that was Antonio proudly announced.

Looking up in the general direction of the blurred Spaniard, Matthew smiled. "Sounds good, eh?"

The reply was quiet, but still loud enough so that Francis looked slightly defeated at his cousin choosing Italian food over his own.

"There's enough for everyone, don't worry!"

At this, Francis and Gilbert immediately grinned. The promise of Italian pizza was always enough to cheer them up!

Walking over to the table where the remaining members of the Awesome Trio were sat with their boyfriends, Antonio had managed to drag Lovino with him and the group sat down. Gilbert sat next to Matthias, Matthew on the other side of the Prussian, Francis perched next to the grumpy Brit whereas Antonio and Lovino were seated at the end of the table. Just Matt's luck, he was positioned directly opposite his brother.

"Hey, Bro! You sitting with at the Awesome table today?" The loud American unintentionally yelled.

"Quit yelling, you git!" Arthur hit him around the back of the head.

"Love ya too, Eyebrows!" If no one knew better, they would say the two blonds were enemies. However, everyone at the table knew better. Especially the Nordic couple and the two Mediterranean boys.

"Anyway, Mattie, something about you seems… different," the Canadian knew he was screwed if he didn't come up with a good answer.

Instead, he began stuttering like an idiot. "I-I… W-What do y-you mean?"

Noticing his glasses were missing and not wanting Alfred to go into protective big brother mode, Arthur decided to help his boyfriend's brother out.

"Did you change your hair?" It was a fair point, Francis had put Matthew's hair in a ponytail for Home Ec and hadn't taken it out yet.

"_That's_ what it is! Bro, it totally suits you!"

"Who are you? Feliks?" The "King" shouted loudly, laughing until Lukas pulled his tie, choking him a little. "All right, all right, I give, I give!" Matthias surrendered through being choked.

Everyone burst out laughing at the couple; surprisingly, this included the other "tsunderes" (as Kiku called them) of the group.

The laughter faded away until eventually, the table was left in an awkward silence, with a Brit still wondering what happened.

This would have to wait as Antonio had put a metal biscuit tin on the table. Once opened, it revealed enough pizza for everyone at the table. Of course, the creators of the delicious creation got first pick of their slices, with everyone else getting to choose soon after.

Matthew was around half way through his slice of pizza when he heard a familiar loud voice.

"America! Where's your brother? I haven't seen him all day!"

It was Carlos… At least _someone_ had noticed he wasn't there.

"Dude, stop calling me that! It's annoying! And Mattie's right there, can't you see him?" Alfred gestured to the space opposite him which was currently occupied by the Canadian being looked for.

Turning to look at his blurred friend, Matthew greeted him in a voice barely above a whisper. "Hi, Carlos. Have you been looking for me?"

"You look different, Matt… How come you aren't wearing your glasses?"

_Oh, Maple! He noticed! _

Cue protective brother mode.

"What?! My little bro must've got picked on or something! It doesn't matter, the HERO is here to save the day!" At this, Arthur hit Alfred over the head again.

"You really are a bloody idiot, Alfred. Matthew hasn't been wearing his glasses this whole time!" Arthur's face was a picture of pure irritation.

Sighing, the Canadian stood up silently, leaving the table, his friends and his half finished pizza behind as he made his way to his safe haven.

The library.

The group hadn't noticed as the Englishman, Frenchman and American began bickering like children, eventually descending into violence before the other members of the group pulled them apart.

His impaired vision certainly caused some issues. Even though the halls were practically empty, Matthew began to wish he had someone to walk with him, guide him through the quiet chaos that was his life. Not that he needed a guide anyway, he knew the route like the back of his hand. It was a simple enough walk, just down the hall and up a flight of stairs.

Walking into the library, he was greeted by the school librarian, both of which were on first name basis with each other.

"Hello, Matthew, is there anything I can help you with?" The cheery middle-aged woman asked.

"Hum? Oh I'm fine, Audrey. Thanks for asking." Matthew sounded slightly depressed but Audrey brushed it off as nothing.

He walked to the end of the bookshelves and sat down on a group of beanbags, closing his eyes as he sank into the comfort of the seat.

Silent footsteps approached the Canadian as a certain Russian and Chinese duo were currently hiding from their younger siblings.

"_Privet_, Comrade!"

"_Nǐ hǎo_, Matthew!"

* * *

**A/N: Hello, people of the internet! As requested, here is the second part of this story! Next part may take a while because I can't write Russia and China whatsoever. That's Anna's job. So, the next chapter will be a collab between us both. See you next time!**

**PS: Writers, check your chapters before you upload them. It cut half of mine out and I had to copy and paste it again and it also screwed up the format. Just a little warning for you guys there.**

**~Lou**


	3. Chapter 3

Matthew simply looked at them and looked back down at the ground in front of him without saying a word, knowing those two would notice in an instant that something was wrong but not wanting to talk about it.

The two students looked at each other before crouching in front of the silent Canadian.

"Something is wrong, _da_?"

"You can tell us, aru."

Matthew simply curled up in a ball, placing his head on his knees. "I'm fine, leave me alone…"

_Great thinking, Matt, _he thought,_ because asking your friends to leave you alone when they can see that you're upset is obviously going to get them to leave!_

Thinking for a second, Matt lifted his head up and looked at the two boys. "You two never normally come here… Why today?"

"Our siblings have started working together so we are hiding from them, aru."

"_Da_, they are extra scary today…" The Russian was visibly shaking at this point.

Yao took the taller Russian boy's hand in both of his, finding it calmed him down. "They haven't found our hiding place yet, aru."

Loud, bounding footsteps could be heard down the hall that most definitely belonging to the American and his group of friends.

"Don't jinx it, eh?"

"What if Natalia comes through the door right now?!" Ivan had gone back to freaking out to the point where he was unconsciously holding Yao for comfort, subsequently causing the small Chinese student to blush furiously.

"Yiwan, I'm not a cuddly-!"

Yao was cut off by the library door swung open with a bang, causing both Ivan and Yao to jump, cling onto each other for dear life and yell in unison: "They're here!"

"Matthieu, where are you?"

"_Ja_, zhe awesome me is worried!"

"Mattie, bro, where you at?"

"Your use of the English language is appalling, you bloody moron."

"Lighten up, Art-" This last call was cut short by the sound of a choking Dane.

The varied chorus of accents alerted the boys to who had entered the library. "I think you should be safe, eh?"

Shaking his head and smiling slightly at the idiocy of his brother and some of his friends, Matthew stood up and walked in the general direction of the voices with Ivan and Yao following close behind, stopping the Canadian from walking into bookshelves and steering him in the right direction.

Literally just as he turned the corner of the last bookshelf to the main area, a blond crowd collectively tackled Matt into a hug, causing him to fall over onto the floor.

"Maple!"

After a couple of minutes of not being able to breathe from the pile of boys pinning him to the floor, Matthew was helped up by the blond group only to be pulled into a bone crushing hug by his ridiculously strong brother.

"A-Al! Can't… Breathe!"

"Sorry, bro, I was just so worried!" Alfred let go of the Canadian and Matt turned to the blurred figures of his friends. "It's nice that you're all worried about me but I don't really want to be in a crowd of people right now."

The group looked at one another and then back to Matthew. "Zhere's actually a present for you coming zhrough zhe door in _drei_…"

"_Dos_"

"_Un_"

Matthew simply looked at the Bad Touch Trio with a face of pure confusion before looking to the entrance of the library.

The door opened and in walked Carlos with a small bag decorated with the Canadian flag in his hand. "Special delivery for the glasses-less Canadian!" A hush from the librarian soon followed the Cuban's booming voice. "Sorry," Carlos lowered his voice.

Matthew couldn't help but laugh at this, drawing the undivided attention of the other members of the small group. He quickly stopped laughing when he realised everyone was staring at him, a light pink dusting his cheeks.

The Cuban boy walked up to his Canadian friend and held out the bag, a grin on his face. "Happy birthday, even though it's not your birthday, Mattie!"

Matthew smiled and took the bag, looked inside it and pulled out a tub of ice-cream with an eyebrow raised. "Carlos… Why is there a tub of ice-cream in here?"

"It's for later, _amigo_! Look at the other thing too!"

Laughing slightly, Matthew pulled out a small parcel, wrapped in a bear patterned paper. Studying the paper for a second, he gently opened it, taking care not to rip the paper.

Pulling the paper away revealed a maple leaf red glasses case. The Canadian looked up at his friends in awe. "Did you manage to…"

"It was going to present for when you ran out of spare glasses. I noticed your spare pairs were going almost as quick as mine!" Alfred burst into his "hero" laugh while Arthur walked off quietly, willing his boyfriend to shut the hell up. "Anyway, try them out!"

Matt nodded and opened the case, taking out a pair of glasses that looked exactly like his old ones. He closed his eyes, swiftly opened the glasses and placed on his nose with practiced agility. The Canadian then pushed his glasses up his nose and opened his eyes, taken aback by how clear his vision was since earlier that morning.

"Alfie, you really are the hero sometimes, you know that?"

"Of course I am!" Alfred boomed in his 'hero voice', followed by a hush from the librarian.

Arthur, who by this time had walked off some time ago, returned holding a hardback copy of one of the Harry Potter books. Which he then used to hit the American over the head.

"Arthur!" Lukas spoke for the first time in a while. "That is not how we treat books!"

The Brit quickly apologised to the book, receiving an odd look from the Awesome Trio.

"Now your eyes are fixed, you will tell us what has been happening, da?"

Matthew sighed and reluctantly began to tell his story.

"It started a couple of months ago…"

* * *

**This took way too long to update and words cannot express both how sorry I am for making you wait this long and how happy I am for you guys supporting this story. Hopefully, the next chapter should be up by next week (when I finish writing it *nervous chuckle*). **

**If you want to know why it took so long, it's simply schoolwork and a family crisis that left me uninspired. I was also below my target word count by quite a bit so...**

**See you next time!  
~Lou**


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